When we share a meal with friends, it is so much more than food (really?)…and, when we share it with girlfriends, and for purposes of this post, like the Swirl Girls, then it is really priceless. Some of us have known each other for years while others, are getting to know each other very fast. Here we were trying to figure out which table would be the best one. Right after Memorial week-end we had the place to ourselves since we arrived early. We did not want a big table. We like to be cozy in order to get that conversation going. The group had just gone to watch the Book Club, if you get my drift.

The majority of us had not yet dined at Our Harvest. This restaurant located at 1106 Coastal Hwy., Fenwick Island, DE 19944, opened last year. Every day, at 5:00 p.m., you can come in and experience a way of eating that has become so popular in the U. S. Telephone is 302-581-0377. No reservations are accepted. The website is http://www.ourharvestde.com.

As the season progresses please have in mind when you would like to eat. You have to have a plan because it gets crowded at the Delaware Beaches. If you arrive and there is a wait, you could have cocktails, relaxing in their bar or in any of the very comfortable leather sofas.

There is an open concept kitchen. You really can see how the kitchen is running. I have to tell you that I probably should have come to try Our Harvest last year. I love their sister restaurant, Liquid Assets, in Ocean City, MD, and I did not want to like this one more. Guess what? They are completely different.

The menu was presented and our server knew the menu well. She explained the concept of eating small plates and shareables. At that moment all we wanted was some wine. Having watched the Book Club, wine was very much consumed by the characters. It was time to relax. The wine that you see at the table was from South Africa. A full bodied Merlot called Immortal Hero.

At first you are a bit overwhelmed because you, actually, do not know how much to order for the table. And, we all have our likes and dislikes. We managed to do a good job and we were all very pleased with how the evening was progressing. Could not believe Jane Fonda looks that good at 81… I know, I know.

We all decided to have a small plate to start our dining experience. Every time I see the offering of a Grilled Caesar Salad, I order it. Years ago I had it at a restaurant in Hagerstown, Maryland. Since then, a few have gotten close at how good that one tasted so I wanted to see how this one would be, more so because it had Boquerones which are white anchovies. They are very mild and usually they are marinated in vinegar. It gives the salad a kick. I will have to say that this Caesar was excellent.

Others ordered the Salt Roasted Beets & Two Cheeses. Served on a wooden plank it had whipped ricotta, Stracciatella, local greens, black pepper and beet vinaigrette. Stracciatella cheese is produced from Italian buffalo milk in the southern Italian region of Apulia. They use a stretching and shredding technique. This particular small plate could have been shared by two people.

We ordered the Spring Harvest Flatbread. A crispy crust filled with local peas, ramps, morel mushrooms, local asparagus, ricotta, gruyere mornay, green garlic pesto and crispy capers. Ramps are a special type of wild onion, found in eastern Canada and U.S. And a Gruyere mornay is a bechamel sauce that has Gruyere cheese added to it. It was delicious but to tell you the truth we probably ordered too much. Not that we did not eat it, by the way.

“Friendship is a delicious meal to be shared off one large plate.” So, we decided to order our large plates. This particular dish I truly loved. It was called the Vegan Feast. It was a whole wood fire roasted head of cauliflower, benne cashew crumb, and a lemon garlic vegan aioli. At first we thought it was cheese but it was the benne cashew crumb. Cashews are lower in fat than other nuts. You can find online a lot of recipes for this vegan seed.

A very popular dish at Our Harvest is a whole Amish air chilled chicken…Arnold Palmer brine, (sweet tea and lemonade brine chicken, I believe), wood fired with lemon and rosemary. Liquid Assets has an amazing chicken, as well. Both chickens are completely different and delicious in more ways than one. We ordered TWO.

Needless to say, no need for dessert. We decided that definitely we would be back. Thanks to our server and also to the hostess that so graciously explained to me how the restaurant worked.

And so I end my post with this quote from John Lanchester….”Hospitality is central to the restaurant business, yet it’s a hard idea to define precisely. Most, it involves being nice to people and making them feel welcome. You notice it when it’s there, and you particularly notice it when it isn’t. A single significant lapse in this area can be your dominant impression of an entire meal.”